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Comparing photo-services • Part 1

We got some photos printed, but I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the quality. Thirty-year old photos from my childhood look sharper! At first I thought this was because of the photos being taken with a digital camera, but then I realised it could also be the printer.

I’ve since found out that the company we used (Hema) is rated as one of the worst places to print photos.

Other photo-printers #

In the search for a better photo-printing service I’ve decided to order 20 photos at three different providers so I can see the quality differences for my self. I looked around at several online reviews, comparison sites and forums to see which providers I would compare. Below are the sources that mostly influenced my decisions.

Silent shiver #

This horse-photographer made a very detailed comparison of three professional photography printers. I’m going to use her post as a blueprint for my when I compare the photos.

Compared:

  • Profotonet: most consistent quality, but least sharp
  • Saal Digital: cheapest, but less consistent in quality
  • FIFO Color: sharpest prints, but too dark

Fotovergelijk #

Fotovergelijk is a place where people rate printed photos and compare pricing. Hema is rated the worst…

I’ve added the printer-service used by the website if they don’t print their own photos.

Good:

  • Profotonet (10)
  • Albelli (9) uses Albumprinter to print
  • Webprint (9) (named Smartphoto in other countries)
  • Fotofabriek (9)
  • Pixum (9) CeWe
  • Fotogoed (9) Küpper druck

Reasonable:

  • Blokker (8) Fujiprint
  • Albert Heijn (7) CeWe

Bad:

  • Aldi (6) CeWe
  • Kruidvat (5) CeWe
  • Hema 🤨 (4)

The scale originally goes from 1 to 5, but I converted it into a 10-point scale so I can compare it with the scoring of Onlinefotoservices.

Onlinefotoservices #

Lastly, we take a look at onlinefotoservices, another comparison site.

Highly rated:

  • Profotonet (8,8)

Reasonable:

  • Primera (7,7) CeWe
  • Smartphoto / Webprint (7,6)
  • Pixum, Aldi, Photobox (7,4) CeWe

Bad:

  • Kruidvat (6,3) CeWe
  • Hema (6,1)

Conclusion #

Everybody agrees Profotonet is the marketleader in high quality photo-printing. Albelli and Webprint seem to be a good 2nd place. CeWe is popular, but has a mixed track-record. The other two high-rated services from Fotovergelijk are not known to me (Fotofabriek and Fotogoed) and are also more expensive. They are highly rated in service, so perhaps I can go back to them some time.

For now I will order photos at Profotonet, Albelli and Webprint. In the next post you will find the outcomes!